Home Buying Advice
Discussion
Hi, I've been a long time lurker, but not had a reason to sign up and post on the forums before.
I've found myself in an odd situation, I used to live in Byfleet in Surrey, but my wife and I both moved with our jobs up to South Manchester late last year.
We've always lived in rented accomodation and through a combination of saving very hard for 7 or 8 years and a gift from my wife's mother, we find ourselves with almost £100,000. This would have just about allowed us to buy our target of a 3-bed house in Byfleet with a mortage of £140,000, which at about 3.5x joint earnings is as much as we would want to borrow.
We now find that the same budget goes a lot further in Manchester, but are unsure whether to up our requirements, or just pay much less for a similar house in a similar quality of area.
After the initial excitement of seeing what great houses our original budget would buy, we are both starting to warm to the idea of a less expensive house, having more disposable income and the flexibility to stop work and look after children if we start a family.
We're still learning about the areas, but Urmston seem broadly similar to Byfleet and we could probably get a similar house for £150,000, e.g.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
It also seems that with the relatively large amount of cash we have, that a refurbishment is another possibility, maybe even buying at auction, but this is nothing we'd ever considered before, so don't even know the first thing. Example nearby is;
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
We're not desperate to buy and quite happy in our rented house, so what are the ups and downs of these options?
- Buy better than expected house or in better area for close to maximum budget of £240,000
- Buy expected type of house for £150,000
- Buy somewhere to refurbish for £110,000 on open market
- Buy somewhere to refurbish for £??? at auction
Thanks
I've found myself in an odd situation, I used to live in Byfleet in Surrey, but my wife and I both moved with our jobs up to South Manchester late last year.
We've always lived in rented accomodation and through a combination of saving very hard for 7 or 8 years and a gift from my wife's mother, we find ourselves with almost £100,000. This would have just about allowed us to buy our target of a 3-bed house in Byfleet with a mortage of £140,000, which at about 3.5x joint earnings is as much as we would want to borrow.
We now find that the same budget goes a lot further in Manchester, but are unsure whether to up our requirements, or just pay much less for a similar house in a similar quality of area.
After the initial excitement of seeing what great houses our original budget would buy, we are both starting to warm to the idea of a less expensive house, having more disposable income and the flexibility to stop work and look after children if we start a family.
We're still learning about the areas, but Urmston seem broadly similar to Byfleet and we could probably get a similar house for £150,000, e.g.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
It also seems that with the relatively large amount of cash we have, that a refurbishment is another possibility, maybe even buying at auction, but this is nothing we'd ever considered before, so don't even know the first thing. Example nearby is;
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
We're not desperate to buy and quite happy in our rented house, so what are the ups and downs of these options?
- Buy better than expected house or in better area for close to maximum budget of £240,000
- Buy expected type of house for £150,000
- Buy somewhere to refurbish for £110,000 on open market
- Buy somewhere to refurbish for £??? at auction
Thanks
I would say it depends on your level of DIY skills and your time availability. If you like DIY, are good at it and have the time, I would opt for the refurb. You can put your stamp on it then and hopefully up your investment.
Auction is a small mine field. Research each property as much as you can. Remember, you may well be bidding against someone else in your position and could end up paying more than it is worth.
With house prices though, I feel it depends on how long you want to stay there and what you can afford. If it is a refurb to sell on soon, it will need to be cheap. If you are buying to stay for life, it doesn't matter so much.
Auction is a small mine field. Research each property as much as you can. Remember, you may well be bidding against someone else in your position and could end up paying more than it is worth.
With house prices though, I feel it depends on how long you want to stay there and what you can afford. If it is a refurb to sell on soon, it will need to be cheap. If you are buying to stay for life, it doesn't matter so much.
JABB makes some good points. You mention the possibility of starting a family so if you're planning on staying in the Manchester area for a long time think about your longer term needs. For example you buy the 3 bed house and within 5 years you've got two children and a 4th bedroom would be handy.
The costs of moving up are not insignificant so stretching yourself slightly now could pay off. Also don't forget schools! (I speak from bitter experience
)
The other consideration is I assume your families are in the SE. Any pulls from that direction - ageing parents etc? And don't forget having parents/in-laws nearby can be useful with small children....
So if you're not sure about how long you'll be in Manchester my vote would be on the refurb. The current housing market looks at best flat right now so a property where you can add value takes my vote.
If you're sure you're staying put in the area for the long term then go for the house that will fill your needs for the long term i.e location, size and schools.
The costs of moving up are not insignificant so stretching yourself slightly now could pay off. Also don't forget schools! (I speak from bitter experience
) The other consideration is I assume your families are in the SE. Any pulls from that direction - ageing parents etc? And don't forget having parents/in-laws nearby can be useful with small children....
So if you're not sure about how long you'll be in Manchester my vote would be on the refurb. The current housing market looks at best flat right now so a property where you can add value takes my vote.
If you're sure you're staying put in the area for the long term then go for the house that will fill your needs for the long term i.e location, size and schools.
can't help on either of locations, but in general, it's better to get the worst house on the best street, than best house on a worse street. Location will always win. So, if it were me, I'd go for a refurb/auction on the best street in your best chosen location and then spend time/money doing it up.
As you do the property up, not only will it rise in value from what you're doing, but it will also be pulled up by the rise in prices of more expensive properties in your immediate location vicinity
HTH and good luck
As you do the property up, not only will it rise in value from what you're doing, but it will also be pulled up by the rise in prices of more expensive properties in your immediate location vicinity
HTH and good luck
Thanks for the advice, we've spent a bit more time looking around and will probably follow what Tonker said and look near the tram route in Timperley or Altrincham. There isn't a strong family pull back to the SE and we think we're probably going to settle round here, but 2 years ago we thought we were settled in Byfleet.
We're looking a bit more into the refurbishment idea, there's a few places on the market that might be suitable needing reasonable refurbishment; new boiler, updating electrics, windows, doors, kitchen, bathroom, carpets, decor, etc..., but we're unsure how to price our bids.
My logic was to check how much similar houses in good condition had been selling for over the last year and then subtract the estimated refurbishment costs to get a target price, but pub talk has given me 2 opposing views.
The first says that you should target lower to cover the effort that has been put into the work and the risk that you're taking on.
The second says that you could go a bit higher because you've got a nice fresh house to your tastes and there will be very little maintenance spend for the next 5 or 10 years.
I can see both points of view and would always try to get it for the lowest price, but would I be making a mistake if I followed the second bit of advice?
The first option would probably mean trying to do a deal at 25-30% less than advertised price, the second would probably mean continuing negotiations up to about 15-20% less than advertised price.
We're looking a bit more into the refurbishment idea, there's a few places on the market that might be suitable needing reasonable refurbishment; new boiler, updating electrics, windows, doors, kitchen, bathroom, carpets, decor, etc..., but we're unsure how to price our bids.
My logic was to check how much similar houses in good condition had been selling for over the last year and then subtract the estimated refurbishment costs to get a target price, but pub talk has given me 2 opposing views.
The first says that you should target lower to cover the effort that has been put into the work and the risk that you're taking on.
The second says that you could go a bit higher because you've got a nice fresh house to your tastes and there will be very little maintenance spend for the next 5 or 10 years.
I can see both points of view and would always try to get it for the lowest price, but would I be making a mistake if I followed the second bit of advice?
The first option would probably mean trying to do a deal at 25-30% less than advertised price, the second would probably mean continuing negotiations up to about 15-20% less than advertised price.
davekp said:
The first option would probably mean trying to do a deal at 25-30% less than advertised price, the second would probably mean continuing negotiations up to about 15-20% less than advertised price.
Houses ripe for refurb seem to sell for prices that are far too high. A semi-derelict (I'm talking holes in the roof and windows falling out) bungalow sold in our village late last year at auction for £166K and it wouldn't break £200K in good nick.Don't forget that the significant stuff, like heating, electrics and windows, needs certificates these days, especially if there's a possibility you might sell with 10 years, so you can't really do this work yourself and it's expensive if you don't know people.
If you are thinking of starting a familily then getting in the catchment area for decent schools is vital, although schools' reputations come and go over time.
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